1. Interpret a Turnitin Originality Report
The VLE @ GSA
How to…

2. Interpret a Turnitin Originality Report
• Turnitin is a text matching tool that can be useful in helping
students develop critical writing skills and evaluate their use
of evidence.
• An Originality Report is generated that outlines where
particular excerpts of text may have come from.
• There are a number of things to be aware of in interpreting
the Originality Report, such as the assessment requirements,
inclusion of bibliographic information, etc.
• Whilst a similarity percentage is generated, this should not be
considered in isolation from the text that constitutes the
submitted piece.

3. In your course, go to Control
Panel > Course Tools >
TurnitinUK Assignments.

4. Choose the link for the Turnitin
Assignment you created and
whish to give feedback on.

5. In the Assignment Inbox, you will see
a percentage and coloured bar beside
each submission.
< 24% 25 – 49% 25 – 49% > 75%
The coloured bars indicate how much text has been
matched. This should be closely considered with the
Originality Report itself and not used as a final score.

6. Click on the percentage or coloured
bar to go to the Originality Report.

7. If not already active, click on the
Originality button to show the
Originality Report pane.
This pane allows you to view a digest of
where text has come, what sources have
been used and how evidence has been
incorporated into an assessment.
Click on a Match to see its source and
incorporation.

8. The Match Breakdown helps to interpret
the Similarity Index. E.g. There is a fairly
large highlighted section here, but it is
properly referenced and clearly a quote.

9. To exclude bibliographic material or
quotations, click the filter icon at the
bottom right. You can then choose which
aspects you may wish to exclude. Then
click Apply Changes.

10. If there is a reference list this will now be
excluded from the Similarity Index.

11. You can save or print a copy of the
highlighted Originality Report by clicking
the printer icon.

12. You can also now use Turnitin on the
iPad. Download and install the Turnitin
App from the App Store. You can then
click on the iPad icon to generate a Class
Access Code to take you straight to the
Assignment Inbox – click to generate and
enter into the App on the iPad.